Most residential-type houses are constructed with pitched roofs. The sloped or angled nature of the roof prevents the accumulation of water, and in many instances minimizes the accumulation of snow. At the lower extremity of a pitched roof, generally referred to as the eaves, there is positioned a drain trough or gutter, the purpose of which is to catch the water which runs off the roof, and channel it to a downspout which leads the water away from the foundation of the house.
In the course of time, such drain gutters tend to accumulated debris such as fallen leaves, which obstruct the gutter and render it ineffective for its intended purpose. Also in the course of time, the gutter, usually of metal construction may require maintenance such as scraping and/or painting. The servicing of such gutters for the purpose of cleaning or painting generally requires the use of a ladder, which makes the task difficult and often perilous.
Although a number of methods have been previously disclosed for simplifying the servicing of eaves-mounted drain gutters, none have been completely successful in operation or sufficiently practical to enjoy any widespread commercial utilization. Mechanically modified gutters have been proposed, such as the one disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 538,108, issued Apr. 23, 1895, which enable the gutter to be manually tilted or inverted so that its contents will dump out. However, the specific features of such systems generally require the use of costly non-standard, specially constructed gutters. Also, their installation onto the eaves of a house may be so difficult as to render them impractical. This is particularly the case with modern houses wherein the roof overhangs the upper peripheral wooden trim panel of the wall, known as the fascia, by not more than about two inches.
It is an object of this invention to provide a means for simplifying the servicing of a drain gutter mounted at the eaves of a building. It is a still further object to provide a manually invertable drain gutter of simple design utilizing drain gutter of standard design, and permitting easy installation onto the fascia of the building. Other objects and advantages will become apparent from the following description of the invention.